The Festival Team 2018

Festival Coordination and Management

Sandra von Ruffin

Festival Coordinator, Management and Curation

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

is a half-Greek and half-German Berlin-based actress, born into a Greek artist family and raised on the beautiful countryside in the north of Germany. At the age of 16, Sandra left home to go to school in London. She continued her graduate education in modern history, history of art and cultural sciences at the Humboldt University, Berlin. After graduating Sandra went back to London to fulfill her passion in studying drama. In 2013 she once more returned to Berlin which she continues to call home. Sandra has been acting in several German and Greek-German film productions, such as “Toleranz”, “Berlin”, “The Penal Colony”, “Dance Love Fight Die – With Mikis on the road “. Acting is her main focus, however, Sandra also aims to write her dissertation and currently applies for a phd program.

Asteris Koutoulas

Festival Coordinator & Artist’s Corner

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

is a Berlin-based Greek-German event and music producer, publicist, filmmaker and author. Born to Greek political immigrants in Romania in 1960, Asteris Kutulas and his family moved to East Germany in 1968. He graduated from Dresden’s Kreuzschule and went on to study German philology and history of philosophy at Leipzig University. Since 1981, he has translated numerous works of notable Greek authors into German. Asteris Kutulas has been working as a producer in the events industry since 1979. Since 1980, he has been working with Mikis Theodorakis all over the world. Asteris was partner of Gert Hof and has been the producer of all his mega events between 1999 and 2010. Between 2010 and 2014 he was the executive producer and dramaturg of Europe’s biggest family entertainment show “Apassionata”. Asteris Kutulas was involved on behalf of German film production companies and TV channels in several documentaries and music films mostly on contemporary Greek culture and history. Furthermore, Kutulas served as author and director of several film productions as well as dramatic advisor of theatre and opera productions.

Festival Directors

Dimitris Argyriou

He participated as director at Berlinale Talents, Sarajevo Talents and Talent Development Campus of Cork Film Festival between other residencies and film programs.

He has written, directed and produced 9 short films, which have won more than 50 awards & screened in more than 700 international film festival and exhibitions.

Also he has written, directed and produced 21 short documentaries for European Television. Furthermore, as editor, he has edit two feature documentaries.

Except his film work, on 2014, he found the NewBorn Short Film Agency providing Festival Strategy & distribution mainly for short films.

He served as Head of New Vision Competition of Hellas FilmBox Berlin for the first two editions, whereas he was Programmer in International Short Film Festival in Berlin – Interfilm (2013 – 2016), he was working in Guest Management Office of
Berlinale-Berlin International Film Festival (2014-2017) and he was Festival Director of Shortcutz Berlin (2013-2015). Meanwhile, he has served as Jury Member in various Short Film Festival such as Alpinale ISFF and Landshut ISFF. On 2017, he curated a special program about Greek Films in International Film Festival, Fest: New Directors/New Films in Portugal.

Since 2016, he is head of short film programming in International Aegean Film Festival.

Ioanna Kryona

Festival Director

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

Ioanna Kryona was born in Thessaloniki and moved to Berlin in 2008. She graduated with a Bachelor and Master of Arts from the Freie Universität in Berlin, where she studied History of Arts and Film Studies. In 2009 she worked at the film market of the International Film Festival and Documentary Festival of Thessaloniki. She became Head of Programming of the Competition Section of Hellas Filmbox Berlin for the first two festival editions, whereas she also worked as a Program Manager of the International Section of the 5th Duhok International Film Festival in Iraq. In Berlin she volunteered since 2011 for the Greek Community Center within the framework of its cultural activities and artistic events and also served as a secretary and vice-president on the Center’s board. Since 2016 she works as a script supervisor having already consulted seven feature film projects of international production and one miniseries for the German television. She is the writer and director of two short films (Postheimat, 2015, 23’, Kinderspiel, 2016, 2,5’), eight videos for the promotion of the activities of cultural institutions and artistic initiatives, and one animation (Mayo oder die gelbe Farbe, 2012, 2’). Since 2017 she works as an assistant producer at the production company mîtosfilm in Berlin.

Holger Ehlers

Association board president of the German-Greek Culture Association

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

Creative Director APASSIONATA

Holger Ehlers started his professional career in 1983 when he followed his passion for art and decided to study opera singing at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Hamburg.

Nowadays Holger Ehlers can look back on around a quarter of a century of work in international opera, musicals and theatre – from Hamburg and Berlin to Moscow and Shanghai. Among other productions, he has featured in the “The Magic Flute”, “The Barber of Seville”, “The Marksman” and “Evita”. He has already received numerous awards for his performances on stage.

Since APASSIONATA was founded in 2001, Holger Ehlers has played a huge role in the fantastic success of the family show. He has produced the show‘s music from day one, which still enchants audiences across Europe and has clocked 14 gold and platinum disks from the German Phono Association (Deutscher Phonoverband). He has also received other top awards from the record company Edel Records and the company PRG (2010: “Best German show”).

He also became involved in the conception of the family entertainment show at an early stage and in doing so laid the foundations for his current role: He has been responsible for the overall artistic coordination since his appointment as Creative Director in 2006.

What he says about his own work: “APASSIONATA offers me new challenges every year – presenting the beauty of the horses in a unique way and capturing the imagination of audiences with moments they have never seen, heard or felt before.”

Team: New Greek Cinema

Ioanna Kryona

Director of Programming

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

Ioanna Kryona was born in Thessaloniki and moved to Berlin in 2008. She graduated with a Bachelor and Master of Arts from the Freie Universität in Berlin, where she studied History of Arts and Film Studies. In 2009 she worked at the film market of the International Film Festival and Documentary Festival of Thessaloniki. She became Head of Programming of the Competition Section of Hellas Filmbox Berlin for the first two festival editions, whereas she also worked as a Program Manager of the International Section of the 5th Duhok International Film Festival in Iraq. In Berlin she volunteered since 2011 for the Greek Community Center within the framework of its cultural activities and artistic events and also served as a secretary and vice-president on the Center’s board. Since 2016 she works as a script supervisor having already consulted seven feature film projects of international production and one miniseries for the German television. She is the writer and director of two short films (Postheimat, 2015, 23’, Kinderspiel, 2016, 2,5’), eight videos for the promotion of the activities of cultural institutions and artistic initiatives, and one animation (Mayo oder die gelbe Farbe, 2012, 2’). Since 2017 she works as an assistant producer at the production company mîtosfilm in Berlin.

Yianna Sarri

Director of Programming Documentary

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

In 2000 Yianna Sarri graduated with a BA and MA in Communication Studies and Film Studies from Coventry University and City University in the UK. From 2000 she is based in Athens and worked for KINO SA. In 2002 she started working at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and Thessaloniki Documentary Festival as a programmer. The last 5 years she is Head of the Market for both festivals and recently has been appointed as consultant for innovative programs & new technologies.

Dareos Khalili

Progranmmer

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

Dareos Khalili is a Writer, Director and Photographer and his work examines the absurd of human relations. His first short film ‘Mr Null’ (2017) premiered in the EFA accredited Drama International Short Film Festival and his second short film ‘LYCEUM’ is currently in Post-Production. His photographic work, under the name ‘to Cover the Silence’, has been exhibited in Greece, England, Canada and Australia.

Dimitris Argyriou

He participated as director at Berlinale Talents, Sarajevo Talents and Talent Development Campus of Cork Film Festival between other residencies and film programs.

He has written, directed and produced 9 short films, which have won more than 50 awards & screened in more than 700 international film festival and exhibitions.

Also he has written, directed and produced 21 short documentaries for European Television. Furthermore, as editor, he has edit two feature documentaries.

Except his film work, on 2014, he found the NewBorn Short Film Agency providing Festival Strategy & distribution mainly for short films.

He served as Head of New Vision Competition of Hellas FilmBox Berlin for the first two editions, whereas he was Programmer in International Short Film Festival in Berlin – Interfilm (2013 – 2016), he was working in Guest Management Office of
Berlinale-Berlin International Film Festival (2014-2017) and he was Festival Director of Shortcutz Berlin (2013-2015). Meanwhile, he has served as Jury Member in various Short Film Festival such as Alpinale ISFF and Landshut ISFF. On 2017, he curated a special program about Greek Films in International Film Festival, Fest: New Directors/New Films in Portugal.

Since 2016, he is head of short film programming in International Aegean Film Festival.

Mihalis Palaiologos

Programmer "New Vision"

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

Mihali is an award winning composer with a varied musical output that includes music for Film,
Concert, Theatre, Installation and Dance. Mihali’s music has been commissioned and performed
by ensembles and artists such as: the Brussels Philharmonic, Chroma ensemble, Ergon
ensemble and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art; with performances in Europe,
USA, South America, Australia, Japan and China.
His recent compositions for Film include the original scores for the Documentary Film ‘Fade to
Black’ , winner Impact Docs Award of Excellence 2017, the TV series ‘Lodgers’, winner Best Short
at the AFRIFF 2016 (Pilot episode); and ‘Monica’, Best Experimental Film at Short of the Year
2017.
Mihali is a member of the judging panel for the Marvin Hamlisch Film Scoring Contest for Emerging
composers (NY, USA) since 2015 and a Jury member at the Scruffy City Film and Music Festival
(Knoxville USA). He is the founder of the Fusion Film Scoring Workshops and the Artistic director
of the Berlin International Film Scoring Competition 2018.
As a conductor Mihali performed regularly both his own compositions as well as other repertoire in
the past years and he conducted in venues such as the Wigmore hall (UK); Queen Elisabeth Hall
(UK); Bishop’s gate Institute(UK); Paxos Music Festival (GR); GSMD (UK); 20th
Century Theatre (UK); National LNK TV and Radio Hall (LT) and worked with ensembles such as
Venezuela Youth Symphony Orchestra; Guildhall Symphony Orchestra and Jetsam Ensemble.
He is currently completing his PhD Studies in Contemporary Instrumental
Techniques and Composition, at the Aristotle University of Greece with Prof. M. Lapidakis.
Mihali’s publications and awards include among others, A Different Green for solo flute (by
Arcomis), Chinese Notebook (in collaboration with poet D.Agrafiotis) on Readings Web Journal of
Birkbeck University of London, finalist for the SABAM Award for Best Young European
Composer and First Prize Winner of the Frank Prindl Prize for Best Orchestral Score.
His first musical, ‘Between Empires’, premiered in Edinburgh Fringe Festival, winning rave reviews:
“… a mesmerising, brand new score by Mihali Paleologou also Musical Director, and a clutch of
vocal performances that demolish any reasonable expectations of what one might encounter in a
Fringe show.”
“… It’s a must-see, but even more importantly, with a score and cast of this calibre,
it’s a must-hear…”
Broadway World

Klaus Salge

Programmer "New Vision"

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

is a Berlin-based german Film – director, – author and – producer.

Born in 1941, he began his career making documentaries in 1972 after finishing his studies in sociology and social-psychology. From the beginning, his films focused on cultural and social issues. Among his numerous films are:

Press & PR

Sofia Stavrianidou

Communications and Publicity Manager

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

She was born in Alexandroupoli, Northern Greece. She studied Classics, at the National Kapodistrian Universiity in Athens and took classes of Film and Communication in Athens and Cologne. She’s been a Film Professional for 19 years, specialized in Press, Communication, Publicity and Media. Among others, she has worked for several years as a Press Officer and later as Communications Manager at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (Greece), as Press and Publicity Manager at the Panorama of European Cinema, as a Press Office Manager at Odeon Film Distribution (one of the biggest distribution companies in Southern Europe ), as well as a Film Sales and Acquisitions Executive at m-appeal world sales (Berlin). She has been responsible for the curation of publicity campaigns, including press conferences, international Press Junkets, premieres and publicity in festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Toronto. She has served as Press Attaché to Jim Giannopoulos, Michael Winterbottom, Rodrigo Garcia, Guillermo Arriaga, Barry Levinson, Alex Proyas, Danis Tanovic, Fatih Akin, Jafar Panahi, Costa-Gavras, a.o. Today she works as Press and Publicity Manager at the international media convention re:publica and the thematic and educational park called Orangeland. Since 2012 she is based in Berlin.

Elektra Daniilopoulou

Junior Publicity Manager

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

Born 1988 in Berlin and bilingually raised, she spends a lot of time in Greece with the family in Athens and Paros. She moved to Bavaria with her mother and ended school. After graduation she studied journalism and communication sciences in Vienna for 2 years. 2013 she spends a semester abroad in Istanbul. Afterwards she moves to Berlin to study at the Free University modern greek. She graduated in December 2016 with a bachelor’s degree. In addition to training as a retailer specializing in perfumery and cosmetics, she completed internships in sales and marketing, public relations, journalism and tourism. In 2016, for example, she spent a summer season at the travel agency Visit Cyclades on the island of Paros. Afterwards she completed a trainee program at Beach-Inspector.com in Berlin Kreuzberg in the field of PR and cooperations. She volunteers for the Greek community and has been involved in translation and dubbing for the film “Burning From The Inside” by Marsia Tzivara. When not traveling, she spends her free time dancing or with her cat, Nelson.

Achilleas Gatsopoulos

Art Director

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

Coming from a traditional Fine Arts background in Greece, Achilleas studied Post Production and Film Design in the UK, receiving distinction in both degrees. He has worked in the Art Department of major films such as “Harry Potter”, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, “The Fifth Estate” and “Two Faces of January” as well as numerous BBC and ITV TV productions. Achilleas has also provided set and motion design on various events for big clients ranging from Mercedes Benz, HUGO BOSS, Jimmy Choo, O2, Samsung, Selfridges and Vodafone to Stolichnaya, Jameson, Absolut Vodka and more. Finally, he has also directed numerous music videos and created video content for various music artists ( e.g. Pet Shop Boys, James Blunt, FAUN, Erick Morillo, SKIN(Skunk Anansie) etc). He lives and works in Berlin since 2009.

Myrsini Karamanli

Born and raised in Athens, she graduated from the German School of Athens and since 2014 lives and studies in Berlin, at the department of Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin.

She has voluntarily taken part in a wide range of activities at the Hellas Filmbox Berlin since its very first edition (organization, translation, film presentation/moderation).

In 2017, she became an active member in the founding team of the self-organized festival “Aus der Nacht heraus – Film Fest” in Berlin.

Maria Sventeriki

Web Administrator

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

was born in 1992 in Athens, Greece and she grew up in the island of Cephalonia. She studied Cultural Technology and Communication at the University of the Aegean in Mytilene and the last two years lives in Berlin. She loves Theater and Cinema. During the last six years she performed in more than ten Theater plays. In her free time she likes to provide voluntary work for organizations such as the Greek Community of Berlin, AIESEC and social educational Projects for kids.

Side Events

Sandra von Ruffin

Artistic Curatior

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

is a half-Greek and half-German Berlin-based actress, born into a Greek artist family and raised on the beautiful countryside in the north of Germany. At the age of 16, Sandra left home to go to school in London. She continued her graduate education in modern history, history of art and cultural sciences at the Humboldt University, Berlin. After graduating Sandra went back to London to fulfill her passion in studying drama. In 2013 she once more returned to Berlin which she continues to call home. Sandra has been acting in several German and Greek-German film productions, such as “Toleranz”, “Berlin”, “The Penal Colony”, “Dance Love Fight Die – With Mikis on the road “. Acting is her main focus, however, Sandra also aims to write her dissertation and currently applies for a phd program.

Argyro Antoniadi

Artistic Curatior

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

Born in 1974 and raised in Athens. Argyro has studied French Language and Literature in the Kapodestrian University of Athens. During her studies she has attended cinematography, photography and theater seminars. In 1996, a scholarship initiates her her ongoing connection with Spain. She has worked as a journalist in Athens for five years (up until 2003) and then decided to return to Madrid in order to pursue her graduate studies (Masters degree) in Cultural Management. While in Spain, she has contributed to several cultural events, such as the ARCO Modern Art Exhibition and the PhotoEspaña Photography Festival.

She lives and works in Berlin since 2004. This is where she gave birth to her daughter in 2005 and, 16 months later, to her son.

Argyro has collaborated with various organizations and magazines, including the Cultural department of the Cervantes Institute in Berlin and Highlights magazine.

She is the founder of Mixing Roots Productions, a company which focuses on the organization of concerts and cultural events both in Berlin and other european towns.

Rafika Chawishe

Side Events (Theater)

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

is an English actress and director. Her mother is Greek and her Father is English. She grew up in both England and Greece. She started performing in a very young age,in many highly regarded productions, portraying leading parts from the classical repertory. Chawishe was soon noticed by the critics for her talent, especially after playing Medea in the J. Gielgud Theatre (RADA) and the Abbey Festival. Rafika Chawishe made her professional debut in 2006 with the National Theatre of Greece at the theatre of Epidavre, playing Cassandra (graduating performance) in The Trojan Women. Over the following few years she played several of William Shakespeare’s plays in such roles as Immogen in Cymbeline, Juliet in Romeo and Portia in the Merchant of Venice. She collaborated with Bruce Myers twice. The first time they worked together on an adaptation titled, Fathers and Daughters in Shakespeare. They tried to stage this adaptation in Greece however they never managed to do that.

The second time they worked together was in the play “The Maids” staged at the National Theatre in 2015. Rafika Chawishe has also staged her own productions in London. She staged three different versions of Medea. In 2007 directed and acted in a short film that was screened in the Short Film Corner at the Cannes Film Festival Cannes Film Festival. In 2008 she directed another short film that participated in the International Film Festival of Seoul and in the Palm Springs Festival. In 2009 the Hollywood Foreign Press Association invited her to make her debut appearance in Golden Globe Awards as a newcomer.

She is exceedingly well-schooled in her profession with training from some of the most important and distinguished drama institutes in the world, including: The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art(Bronze, Silver, Gold Certificate in Acting Shakespeare), the National Academy of Dramatic Art in Greece, and a second Bachelor Degree in classics and linguistics from the National University, School of Philosophy.

Nefeli Myrodia

Side Events (Theater)

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

Nefeli Myrodia was born in Athens in 1987. She studied International and European Economics and continued with Master’s degrees in International Political Economy and in Digital Arts. Since 2012 she has worked in the theatre as an assistant director and dramaturge and as cultural manager in various art projects.

In 2015 she was the project manager in Athens of Sound Development City and since October 2015 she is working in the production team of the Athens Biennale. She is the producer in Greece of the festival Culturescapes 2017. She was the International Relations coordinator of the artistic programme for Kalamata:21 ECoC Candidacy Office. She has directed three short-films and has participated in the creation of artistic workshops for minorities and vulnerable teams. She is a Humanity in Action 2015 Senior Fellow (Berlin).

Guest Management

Elisa Deftos

Guest Management

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

was born in Athens into a german-greek family. She grew up in Greece and graduated from the German School of Athens in 2003. She then went to Berlin to study Social and Economic Communications at the Unversity of Arts and received her diploma as a Communication Manager in 2008.

Whilst studying and after her graduation Elisa gained working experience as an assistent next to film directors and producers on film and tv sets and production companies in Berlin and Athens.

Since 2013 Elisa works as a Project Manager for the german advertising agency peppermint werbung berlin GmbH.

Elina Fotinou

Guest Management

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

Elina Foteinou was born in Thessaloniki, Greece. She studied Political Science at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and did her MA in Visual and Media Anthropology at the Freie University of Berlin.

She has worked as a translator of political theory in Greece.

“THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE”, her first feature documentary was nominated for Best Feature Documentary in Social Impact Media Awards in the USA.

Since 2010, Elina has been living and working in Berlin in documentary, fiction film and TV shows in the field of production, research and editing. She also worked as the assistant director in the Greek-German documentary “Burning from the Inside”, which is on its festival circle at the moment.

Team support

Festival Initiators

Eva Micropoulou

PR Hörfunk

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

was born in 1974 and raised in Esslingen, Germany. Since her childhood she has been travelling and living between Germany and the north of Greece. She studied sociology and history in Tübingen and Athens.
Eva has always been engaged in Greek affairs and has been working as a journalist for the bilingual journal for politics and culture called Kassandra and the independant channel Wüste Welle.
Furthermore Eva co-directed, acted and danced in several theatre productions shown at theatres such as a the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens.
Since 2004 she was working as an assistant director a the Maxim Gorki Theatre in Berlin and from there moved on to working at the Berlin based radio channel called radiomultikulti.
In 2008 Eva gave birth to her son and started working as a freelance author. She then presented and edited the greek show elliniko randevou at Funkhaus Europe RBB channel.
Until now she is travelling and living between Greece and Germany.
Eva is also co- founder of the New German Mediaproducers.

Asteris Koutoulas

Festival-Initiator

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

is a Berlin-based Greek-German event and music producer, publicist, filmmaker and author. Born to Greek political immigrants in Romania in 1960, Asteris Kutulas and his family moved to East Germany in 1968. He graduated from Dresden’s Kreuzschule and went on to study German philology and history of philosophy at Leipzig University. Since 1981, he has translated numerous works of notable Greek authors into German. Asteris Kutulas has been working as a producer in the events industry since 1979. Since 1980, he has been working with Mikis Theodorakis all over the world. Asteris was partner of Gert Hof and has been the producer of all his mega events between 1999 and 2010. Between 2010 and 2014 he was the executive producer and dramaturg of Europe’s biggest family entertainment show “Apassionata”. Asteris Kutulas was involved on behalf of German film production companies and TV channels in several documentaries and music films mostly on contemporary Greek culture and history. Furthermore, Kutulas served as author and director of several film productions as well as dramatic advisor of theatre and opera productions.

Ina Kutulas

Festival-Co-Initiator

Hellas Filmbox Berlin

CV

is one of the initiators of HELLAS FILMBOX BERLIN.

She was born in Magdeburg (Germany) in 1965. During her lengthy stays in Greece (1992-1996 and 2005-2006) she developed from a poet to composing prose. So far two of her books (the poem edition “Herbstzeitlose” and the novel “Maybe Athens – Berlin Maybe”) were published as well as a variety of adaptions of Greek poetry in German magazines and books (for example Elytis, Engonopoulos, J. Khaleed, Karatzas, Karyotakis, Cavafy, Neophytou, Polydouri, Ritsos, Seferis, Theodorakis). Currently Ina Kutulas focuses on the writing of essayistic texts.

She worked together with Asteris Kutulas and Klaus Salge on the film projects “Sun and Time” (1999) and “Mikis Theodorakis. Composer” (2011) and on making the book “Mikis Theodorakis – A life in pictures” (2010). Ina and Asteris Kutulas were the editors of Wallstein’s journal for literature and arts “die horen” number 249 which was dedicated to Greek literature and was published in 2013.

Ina is co-author of the feature movies “Recycling Medea” (2014) and “Dance Fight Love Die” (2015). She currently lives in Berlin as a freelancing author and publicist.